{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DIME","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2025-05-27","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/the World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","authoring_entity":[{"name":"Ashley Pople","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"apople@worldbank.org"},{"affiliation":"World Bank","email":"ppremand@worldbank.org","name":"Patrick Premand"},{"name":"Stefan Dercon","affiliation":"University of Oxford","email":"stefan.dercon@economics.ox.ac.uk"},{"name":"Margaux Vinez","email":"mvinez@worldbank.org","affiliation":"World Bank"},{"name":"Stephanie Brunelin","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"sbrunelin@worldbank.org"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Paper (PRWP)","title":"The earlier the better? Cash transfers for drought response in Niger","authors":"Ashley Pople, Patrick Premand, Stefan Dercon, Margaux Vinez, Stephanie Brunelin"}],"datasets":[{"name":" Niger High-Frequency Household Survey Data","note":"All data used in the project was collected by surveying households and communities in Niger. All datasets will be published in the Microdata Library.\nLocated at: \/data\/baseline, community, endline, high_frequency, midline, panel, treatment_assignment.\n","access_type":"Data will be made available through the World Bank's Microdata Library.","uri":"Forthcoming at https:\/\/microdata.worldbank.org\/"}],"software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"18.0 MP"}],"scripts":[{"file_name":"RR_NER_2024_212.zip","zip_package":"RR_NER_2024_212.zip","title":"Reproducibility package for The earlier the better? Cash transfers for drought response in Niger","date":"2025-05","dependencies":"All dependencies are stored in the ado folder","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by the Development Impact (DIME) Analytics team, World Bank."}],"title_statement":{"idno":"RR_NER_2024_212","title":"Reproducibility package for The earlier the better? Cash transfers for drought response in Niger"},"production_date":"2025-05","abstract":"Climatic shocks exacerbate consumption volatility and seasonality. When facing fluctuations in labor needs and prices, low-income rural households may rationally increase their consumption during specific seasons rather than maintaining consumption constant throughout the year. This makes the optimal timing of policy responses to shocks ambiguous. We examine the impact of varying the timing of cash transfers in response to drought in Niger, leveraging satellite-based triggers for a faster response before the lean season. Through a randomized control trial, we compare large early transfers delivered before the lean season, a traditional humanitarian response during the lean season, and smaller regular transfers throughout the year. We find that large early transfers yield greater net benefits on economic welfare and psychological well-being before and during the lean season compared to a traditional humanitarian lean season response. The large early transfers also tend to have larger effects than the year-long transfers. None of these welfare differences persist either in the months immediately after the lean season or nine months later. The early timing of transfers shifts borrowing behavior but has no discernible impact on livelihoods. Our findings demonstrate the value of sufficiently large early transfers in mitigating the effects of a severe drought due to labor needs before the lean season and price fluctuations.","geographic_units":[{"name":"Niger","code":"NER","type":"Country"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Food security"},{"name":"climate change"},{"name":"seasonality"},{"name":"drought"},{"name":"cash transfers"},{"name":"timing"},{"name":"field experi\u0002ment"},{"name":"social protection"}],"topics":[{"id":"D12","vocabulary":"JEL Classifications","name":" Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ","url":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","parent_id":"D1","uri":" https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel"},{"id":"O12","vocabulary":"JEL Classifications","name":" Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ","url":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","parent_id":"O1","uri":" https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel"},{"id":"Q54","vocabulary":"JEL Classifications","name":" Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming ","url":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","parent_id":"Q5","uri":" https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"data_statement":"All data is not yet publicly available but is expected to be made available through the World Bank Microdata Library in the future.","repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"technology_requirements":"~16 minutes run time","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced in a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1145G7 CPU @ 2.60GHz\n\u2022 Memory available: 15.7 GB\n\u2022 Software version: Stata version 18.0 MP","reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the results, a new user should follow these steps:\n1. Once the data becomes available, place it in the appropriate folder.  \n   A file named `folder_structure` is included in the package to guide the correct folder organization.\n2. Update the file paths in the main do file to reflect your local setup.\n3. Run the main do file to execute the analysis.\nAs the data is not included in the package, the reproducibility materials contain the outputs generated by the replicators. These are provided so users can verify the results against the published paper.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Patrick Premand ","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"ppremand@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}]},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open code"},{"tag":"Restricted data"}],"schematype":"script"}